Branded content marketing episode 4

subjects & hits ; content and conversion

Like most businessmen, you will ask yourself how content marketing will sell your product and you will expect to see the numbers that proves the impact on your bottom-line. But you won’t anytime soon… you won’t see these numbers yet, but you will later. It is futile for now to hope to sell your product as you did in the traditional media outlets until now. You must first win over your audience on the world wide web; this is a must if you are going to become competitive on the web 2.0 market. So, don’t let go of your traditional advertisement just yet.

Learn this quick : the conversion of brand content marketing into sales will be achieved only if you succeed in attracting attention and developing curiosity in the minds of potential clients. Only a significant and pertinent content in the minds of your audience can achieve this goal. Times have changed. Traditional advertisement tactics in publicity that consists of bragging about your product’s superior attributes by showing a glaring polished surface accompanied by a message of promise is not effective anymore. ‘Webnauts’ do not want to hear how great your product is and why they should purchase it. Believe me, they have seen one and another of these ridiculous pitches — a wink at infomercials. Products that don’t live up to their mass media image and that do not deliver on their promises have invaded the t.v. screens for the last 30 years. Even if your message is truthful and even if your product really is better than your competitors own entry, the vast majority of the internet market will not listen to your own sayings, worse, they will be agaced by this and shut you down from their daily routine. The new 2.0 web consumers are more educated and wiser, they will decide if your product is good or not by seeking information and experience for themselves. We have mentioned this in a previous post and we say it again : consumers will now influence the image of your product and your organization whether you like it or not. That is what you need to manage and this is where branded content marketing comes in and why it is so important. The ‘Webnaut’ consumer is looking for something more than advertisement on the web, he is looking for content, for some tangible added value to their daily lives. If you can provide this content and this added value to attract him to your web platforms then you have the opportunity to sell him your product. Unlike mass media tools that we recognize as traditional — television, radio & magazines — the internet lets you decide what advertisement you want to see ; this is the single most important difference between the new mass media tool that is the internet vs traditional mass media. You must therefore change completely your marketing approach to mass media vs internet marketing. Conversion of branded content marketing into sales will succeed only if you first catch the attention of your market through everything and anything that is relevant but your product.

Subjects of your branded content marketing will need to be designed to create a tangible added value to your clients daily lives. Offer an irresistible reason for them to click on the link to your content or website, an immediate wealth, a crucial information, a recipe, a procedure, a piece of work, a video, a story, something valuable right away for free. This is the nature of content marketing, the basis of its communications strategy. Moreover, this is a new must in the field of sales communications and marketing. The new generation of consumers is nothing like the previous one and what strikes them most, way more than your product, is to find out who you are, how you relate to them and how you can make their lives better today.

The ‘Webnaut’ consumer has access at his fingertips to all of the information that he needs to judge your product and your organization, he does’t need you to educate him. What he really wants is a picture of who you are, what you stand for socially and professionally and what you can offer him to advance his own knowledge right away. Don’t forget he can get a wealth of information on your actions, products and services through their own information channels — facebook & the likes. These are the issues around which you will need to build your branded content marketing. If you do this right you will build a positive image of your organization and your product in the minds of the new consumers. It is the first step to preparing the conversion rate you need. This success will attract traffic to your website and blog and make conversion possible. To some extent, branded content marketing is the newer cousin of social marketing and event marketing. The Web 2.0 consumer is expecting from you a solid demonstration of your relevance and of the need for him to include you into his daily life routine — web browser favorites and social media followings. Will he add you to his favourites list? Will he share your content? This is your objective in branded content marketing and that is what will decide if you grow or die out. Message us to find out how you can better put this program together and working in your organisation.